Asymmetric shuffle keyboard

ABSTRACT

An asymmetric keyboard with a QWERTY style layout comprising a plurality of sparse grids and a plurality of dense grids is provided. A sparse grid is substantially large in size containing large keys with large labels, whereas a dense grid is substantially small in size containing small keys with small labels. All keys are functional but the larger keys in the sparse grid offer greater visibility and operability than the smaller keys in the dense grid. The user makes use of the sparse grid as the primary grid to input data. A swipe across a designated boundary interchanges the key labels between corresponding pairs of keys in the designated sparse and dense grids. On the software-based version, a swipe across another designated boundary compresses or decompresses a corresponding grid. On the hardware-based version, a bi-axial hinge allows the display and the keyboard to rotate around two axes.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefits of provisional applications U.S.60/857,996 filed Nov. 8, 2006 and U.S. 60/877,599 filed Dec. 29, 2006,and is related to regular application U.S. Ser. No. 11/194,788 filedAug. 1, 2005, and international application PCT/US2005/027272 filed Aug.1, 2005.

BACKGROUND

The most commonly recognized keyboard from its inception to this day isthe QWERTY keyboard. With the advancements in technology, it becomeseasier to manufacture portable computing devices varying in size, andthe most recognized keyboard just seems to be a logical choice for aninput device.

In general, as a device gets smaller, it becomes more portable, however,less practical to incorporate a keyboard with a QWERTY layout. Variousapproaches have been attempted to incorporate the standard QWERTY stylekeyboard, a keyboard layout similar to the standard QWERTY keyboardlayout, into portable computing devices including palm held devices,devices small enough to fit into a person's palm.

Portable computing devices generally fall into two categories: thosethat incorporate an onscreen keyboard, a keyboard displayed on a touchscreen where the input is directed to a designated program, and thosethat incorporate a physical keyboard.

The category with an onscreen keyboard ranges from tablet PCs, personalcomputers with a touch screen, to mobile phones. Since the majority ofthe portable computing devices that rely on an onscreen keyboard aresmaller than the typical full-size QWERTY keyboard at the widestdimension, the user typically has to rely on a stylus to be able toprecisely select a key on the relatively smaller onscreen keyboard.Despite this limitation, however, the onscreen keyboard layouts haveremained relatively unchanged to this day.

The category with a physical keyboard ranges from notebook computers toPDAs (personal digital assistants). It appears that more attempts havebeen made in this category.

One approach is to use miniaturization to incorporate a QWERTY stylekeyboard into portable computing devices, however, with a tradeoff inoperability. While there are several approaches taken to improve theoperability of miniaturized keyboards, such as modifying the shape andorientation of the keys as in U.S. Pat. No. 7,227,536 Griffin et al, orstaggering the keys as in U.S. Pat. No. 7,220,069 Griffin et al, theystill don't free them from their inherited fundamental deficiency,miniaturization.

Miniaturized physical keyboards clearly suffer from proportionallyscaling down the full-size QWERTY keyboards. The QWERTY keyboard, whichis designed for two-handed use, is practical only above a certain size.The keyboard can be scaled down proportionally, but the user's handscannot be, at least without a considerable amount of difficulty.Therefore, the physical keyboards, when miniaturized, are essentiallyreduced to “two-thumbed” use, where they are only practical for typingwith a person's thumbs. Accordingly, they have become to be known as“thumb-pads.”

Perhaps, the most glaring deficiency of miniaturized physical keyboardson portable computing devices is highlighted by the common practice ofincorporating typing assistant software, which predicts the next letteror series of letters the user would type, saving the user from having tofind and press another miniaturized key.

Another approach is to make the keyboard extendable by use of extensionpanels as in U.S. Pat. No. 7,206,616 Choi, U.S. Pat. No. 7,221,560Varela, U.S. Pat. No. 6,707,664 Murphy, U.S. Pat. No. 6,111,527 Susel,and U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,644 Crisan. Some designs have the extensionpanels rotate out, while others either flip up or pull out. While someof these approaches offer a keyboard nearly as big as a full-size QWERTYkeyboard, they are not only bulky and complicated, but also result inserious limitations when applying to palm held devices.

The keyboards with extension panels installed on notebook computers canoffer key sizes comparable to a full-size QWERTY keyboard, but the onesinstalled on palm held devices end up having keys closer in size tominiaturized keys, due to the physical limitation imposed on theextension panels by the folded size of the palm held device. In general,the portability of a device is inversely proportional to each additionalunit of mass, and the added bulk of the extension panels clearly reducethe portability of a device.

While it looks like an acceptable solution for notebook computers, itdoesn't appear to be widely adopted in the industry, probably due totheir added bulk, if not weight.

Yet another approach is to use elastic material, or scissor linkages oralike to hold the individual keys to make the whole keyboard expandableand compressible as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,343 Roylance et al., U.S.Pat. No. 5,951,178 Lim, U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,944 Butler, U.S. Pat. No.7,030,323 Lahr, U.S. Pat. No. 6,882,336 Lahr, U.S. Pat. No. 6,830,397Lahr, U.S. Pat. No. 6,810,119 Lahr, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,739,774 Lahr.While one approach claims to change the size of the key, in essence itis only giving the perception of a larger key surface area by use offoam or rubber like materials, or a fragmented key surface. Theseapproaches allow changing the spacing between the keys, but despite thevariations portrayed in the prior art, the effective core surface areaof the keys remain more or less the same.

There are several deficiencies inherent to this approach. Not only thematerials would be difficult to manufacture and maintain, but also thewear and tear would make its operability susceptible to failure. Itwould also be very difficult, if not impossible, to manufacture scaleddown components of this nature to fit into a palm held device. Even ifthat is possible and the added mass isn't an issue, its reliability anddurability would be highly questionable.

All of these approaches suffer from proportionally scaling down thelayout of the full-size QWERTY keyboard and reducing the size of thekeys to fit the entire keyboard into a limited surface area. Having akeyboard intended for use with both hands in environments where it isonly practical to use one hand results in an inefficient use of theavailable space. Moreover, it becomes impractical to use the scaled downkeyboard due to the substantially small size of the keycaps. A styluscan be used to manipulate the scaled down onscreen keyboard. However, inthe majority of cases, holding, using and keeping track of a stylus insuch environments can quickly become a burden.

OBJECTS

The primary object of this invention is to provide large keys on aQWERTY style keyboard incorporated into portable computing devices whilemeeting the conflicting demands of portability and ease-of-use.

Another object is to factor in the realization that portable computingdevices are mostly operated in a one-handed manner, for having to carryit by the other hand, or due to limited access in confined spaces, andoptimize the usage of the limited space available for a keyboard on aportable device.

Yet another object is to have a compact and low maintenance QWERTY stylekeyboard that is free of a total dependency on miniaturization,extension panels, elastic bands, or complex linkages, on portablecomputing devices.

The final object is to deliver a clean design of a QWERTY stylekeyboard, ideal to be incorporated into portable computing devices fortravelers, mobile businesses, and emergency response and law enforcementparties.

ADVANTAGES

Portable computing devices call for conflicting and competing demandswhere all things being equal, portability is inversely and ease-of-useis directly proportional to its size.

Most of the portable computing devices are used only by one hand, yetmore precisely by one digit (one finger), while the other hand is usedto hold it up. Moreover, in the majority of cases, the keyboard is usedonly to write short phrases. The proportionally scaled down QWERTYkeyboard, onscreen or physical, designed for two-handed use results inan inefficient use of the limited space available on portable computingdevices.

The small keys make it even harder to press when the user is wearingprotective gear such as a glove, which makes the contact point of adigit larger than normal, or see with reduced visibility when the useris wearing a facemask, in hazardous environments.

The proposed invention takes these factors into account and had theQWERTY style layout of the keyboard reorganized to make use of thelimited space more efficiently. In contrast to the traditional symmetriclayout where the two halves of the keyboard are of comparable sizes anddensities, the basic design reorganizes the keyboard into an asymmetriclayout where the left and right halves of the keyboard are of differentsizes and densities. The key labels are arranged so that those in thedense grid region are substantially small and those in the sparse gridregion are substantially large. Alternatively, the top and bottom halvesof the keyboard can be arranged in a similar manner, or a combination ofboth to have more than one dense grid region.

The asymmetry of the keyboard layout results in a sparse grid regioncontaining keys with a keycap area substantially large enough to beoperated with ease by a person's fingertips, and is designated as theprimary grid for operating the keyboard. The key assignments areshuffled, or swapped, between the dense and sparse grid regions by asimple swipe across a designated border at the user's discretion. Theother key groups in the dense grid regions with substantially smallerkeys and labels are functional, but less convenient to operate than theprimary group of keys in the sparse grid region. However, they serve asa visual clue positioned in the user's peripheral vision aiding one toretrieve from memory the position of a key on the familiar QWERTYkeyboard.

For devices comparable in size to an average PDA, it offers large keysthat a user can comfortably see with their naked eyes and select with adigit under normal circumstances. Not only this approach allows a morenatural typing style, but it also eliminates the need for any artificialassistance such as a stylus or typing assistance software.

For devices substantially larger in size than a PDA, it offersrelatively large keycap areas that make it easier to see while wearing amask, and operated with a fingertip while wearing protective gear.

The proposed solution not only is free from the burden of additionalbulk, weight, complexity, or total dependency on miniaturization, butalso offers keys that are actually large. The only mechanical componentsare the pushbuttons, which are widely and reliably used in many of thepalm held devices on the market. It, in fact, can be built without thepushbuttons. The majority of the parts are commonly available electroniccomponents that are proven to be highly reliable and durable in theirapplications in an extensive range and types of portable computingdevices.

The proposed solution offers a compact, lightweight and reliable designthat meets the conflicting and competing demands of portability andease-of-use imposed on portable computing devices.

SUMMARY

The QWERTY style keyboard is, perhaps, the most widely recognizedkeyboard. Portable computing devices call for conflicting and competingdemands of portability and operability, and incorporating QWERTY stylekeyboards into portable computing devices have been fraught with amultitude of challenges.

The QWERTY style keyboards incorporated into portable computing devicesgenerally falls into two categories: onscreen or virtual keyboards, andphysical keyboards.

The onscreen keyboard layouts have remained relatively unchanged.However, they are typically small enough that the user has to resort tousing a stylus.

While there are several approaches taken to improve the physicalkeyboards, they are usually based upon miniaturized keys, extensionpanels, or elastic backings. They all suffer from proportionally scalingdown the layout of the full-size QWERTY keyboard, and due to the burdenof additional bulk, weight, complexity, or total dependency onminiaturization, their operability, reliability and durability isquestionable.

The proposed invention takes into consideration that most of theportable computing devices are used only by one hand, and in themajority of cases, the keyboard is used only to write short phrases. Itdeparts from the trend of emulating the keyboard layout designed fortwo-handed-use, and employs a reusable space design, offering a keyboardlayout designed specifically for one-handed-use.

An asymmetric keyboard with a QWERTY style layout comprising a number ofsparse and dense grids defined in a medium, such as a touch pad or atouch screen, is provided. A sparse grid is substantially large in sizecontaining large keys and labels, and a dense grid is the opposite. Allof the keys are functional, however, the larger keys in the sparse gridoffer greater visibility and operability than the smaller keys in thedense grid. The user makes use of the sparse grid as the primary grid toinput data, while the dense grid remains in the user's peripheral visionacting as a clue to the other side of the familiar QWERTY keyboardlayout. An effortless and intuitive shuffling motion, a swipe across adesignated common boundary between the sparse and dense grids,interchanges the key labels between the corresponding pairs of keys inthe designated sparse and dense grids.

The proposed design also allows the user to compress and uncompress acorresponding area of the onscreen keyboard with a simple swiping motionacross a designated border. The keycap regions and designated bordersare automatically reconfigured to match the change in the compressionlevels of the grids they are associated with.

The result is a design that offers a compact, lightweight and reliabledevice that meets the conflicting and competing demands of portablecomputing devices.

DRAWINGS List of Figures

FIG. 1 is the structure of the onscreen keyboard

FIG. 31 is the onscreen keyboard with the left side compressed

FIG. 32 is the onscreen keyboard with the right side compressed

FIG. 33 is the onscreen keyboard with the top side compressed

FIG. 41 is the onscreen keyboard with the left and right halves swappedafter a horizontal shuffle

FIG. 42 is the onscreen keyboard with the top and bottom halves swappedafter a vertical shuffle

FIG. 101 is the structure of the physical keyboard

FIG. 101H is the structure of the bi-axial hinge system

FIG. 102 is the operational layout

FIG. 111 is the system in CHAR mode

FIG. 111A is the system with the left and right halves of the keyboardswapped after a horizontal shuffle

FIG. 111B is the system with the two halves of the body rotated to theright side of the hinge assembly

FIG. 112 is the system in POINT mode

FIG. 113 is the system in 12-KEY mode

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   0 Contact point-   1 Bi-axial hinge-   1X First axis-   1Z Second axis-   2 Display-   3 Keyboard-   3G Grid-   3L Light emitting diode (LED) assembly-   3P Pushbuttons-   3S Touch screen-   3T Touch pad-   4C Designated center border-   4G Grid halve-   4L Designated left border-   4M Designated middle border-   4R Designated right border-   4S Slab halve-   4T Designated top border-   5L Mouse left-   5R Mouse right

DESCRIPTION Preferred Embodiment

FIG. 1 shows the structure of the system, where keyboard 3 is displayedas an onscreen keyboard on the touch screen 3S of a tablet PC.Sub-systems including a software component (not shown) manage theoperational aspects of the system. The keyboard is in the uncompressedstate.

OPERATION Preferred Embodiment

FIG. 31 shows the system after the left side of the keyboard iscompressed after the user makes a swipe, moving the contact point 0across the designated left border 4L. The borders of the individualregions defining the keycap areas and the designated borders are alsoreconfigured according to the compressed state of the keyboard.Repeating the swiping motion brings the left side of the keyboard backto the uncompressed state.

FIG. 32 shows the system after the right side of the keyboard iscompressed after the user makes a swipe, moving the contact point 0across the designated right border 4R, from the state of the systemshown in FIG. 31. In the system illustrated, the left side of thekeyboard is automatically uncompressed.

FIG. 33 shows the system after the topside of the keyboard is compressedafter the user makes a swipe, moving the contact point 0 across thedesignated top border 4T, from the state of the system shown in FIG. 31.

FIG. 41 shows the system after the left and right halves of the keyboardare shuffled, or swapped, after the user makes a swipe, moving thecontact point 0 across the designated center border 4C.

FIG. 42 shows the system after the top and bottom halves of the keyboardare shuffled, or swapped, after the user makes a swipe, moving thecontact point 0 across the designated middle border 4M.

Alternative Embodiment

FIG. 101 shows the structure of the system, where a keyboard 3comprising a bed of pushbuttons 3P and a light emitting diode (LED)assembly 3L are placed under a flexible transparent or translucent touchpad 3T with a visible or tactile grid 3G. A hinge assembly 1 holds thetwo halves, display 2 and keyboard 3, together. A software component(not shown) controls the operational aspects of the system. In additionto controlling the basic features, the software component (not shown)allows configuring the system to treat a tap and a click on touch pad 3Tthe same or differently, wherein a tap is a touchdown and liftoff of thecontact point that does not activate a push button underneath, whereas aclick does.

FIG. 101H shows the structure of the bi-axial hinge assembly 1 whereaxis 1X is positioned in line with the X-axis and axis 1Z is positionedin line with the Z-axis of the standard three dimensional coordinatesystem with X, Y and Z axes.

Alternative Embodiment

FIG. 102 shows the operational layout of the system. The surface of thetouch pad 3T is divided into a grid halve 4G and a slab halve 4S. Thegrid halve 4G has a tactile or visible grid as shown in FIG. 101,whereas the slab halve 4S, which also doubles as a pointing device, doesnot. The system can be set to function in CHAR, POINT, or 12-KEY modes.More than one mode can be active at the same time depending on the stateof the system.

FIG. 111 shows the system in CHAR mode where the QWERT halve of the keysare located on the grid halve 4G and the other halve YUIOP is located onthe slab halve 4S. Both halves of the keypad can be used for data input,but the grid halve 4G with well defined grids and larger key labels isfar more convenient to use than the slab halve 4S, hence would beprimarily used for data input. The contact point 0, is located in thegrid halve 4G at this stage.

FIG. 111A shows the system after the left and right halves of thekeyboard are shuffled, or swapped. The key labels on the slab halve 4Sand the grid halve 4G are exchanged by a swipe, moving the contact point0 across the designated center border 4C. The YUIOP halve is now locatedon the grid halve 4G and the QWERT halve on the slab halve 4S. Thecontact point 0 is now located in the slab halve 4S.

FIG. 111E shows the system with display 2 and keyboard 3 rotated to theright side of the hinge assembly 1.

FIG. 112 shows the system in POINT mode. A swipe across the designatedright border 4R, or an alternative means, toggles the pointing devicemode of the slab halve 4S, turning it on in this scenario. While keylabels are still displayed on the slab halve 4S, it no longer functionsas a keyboard. It now functions as a touch pad pointing device wheresliding across the surface of slab halve 4S is interpreted as a signalto move the pointer, and a tap or a click, depending on theconfiguration of the system, on the regions 5L and 5R are interpreted asleft and right mouse clicks respectively.

FIG. 113 shows the system in 12-KEY mode.

CONCLUSION, RAMIFICATIONS AND SCOPE OF INVENTION

The reader will see that the present invention providing a QWERTY stylekeyboard with large letters on a palm held device, is a preferablealternative to competing approaches employing miniaturization, extensionpanels or elastic materials. It offers a compact and a reliable designthat meets not only the competing, but also the conflicting demands ofportability and practicality, imposed upon portable computing devices.

While the embodiments illustrated rely on small and large labelsrespectively for substantially obscure and evident representations of aletter, alternative mapping schemes can also be applied. For example, acompact symbol to an elaborate symbol, an acronym to a fully expandeddescription, or a sign to a worded description, for mapping abbreviatedto descriptive marks of a core attribute.

The basic principles applied on visual mediums as illustrated in theembodiments, can be easily extended to tactile mediums as well. Forexample, an asymmetric keyboard with keys incorporating a pinhead arraysurface similar to a dot-matrix print head where the individual pinheadscan be raised or lowered to create a Braille lettering system.

The task of tracking groups of keys in different regions can be madeeasier by displaying them with a certain shade that migrates togetherwith them as they are being shuffled from one region to another. Thiswould aid the user to recognize them at a glance, similar to how theaudience recognizes players of different soccer teams by their uniformsas they move around the field. Different colors, backgrounds, hatchings,styles, or other markings can also be used to achieve a similar effect.

While the above description contains many specifications, these shouldnot be construed as a limitation of the scope of the invention, butrather as an exemplification of a few embodiments thereof.

1. A keyboard for data input comprising: a) at least one major and oneminor key; b) a set of core symbols wherein each core symbol has a largelabel and a small label to represent it; c) a software subsystem incommunication with said major and minor keys, and core symbols; and d) aset of instructions defined within said software subsystem, wherein saidset of instructions is configured to: i) mark said major key with alarge label of an assigned core symbol belonging to said set of coresymbols; ii) mark said minor key with a small label of an assigned coresymbol belonging to said set of core symbols; iii) make each of saidmajor and minor keys represent an attribute corresponding to saidassigned core symbol; iv) interchange said assigned core symbols of saidmajor and minor keys; and v) make each of said major and minor keysrepresent an attribute corresponding to said interchanged assigned coresymbol.
 2. An asymmetric keyboard for data input in claim 1 wherein saidkeyboard is a virtual keyboard.
 3. An asymmetric keyboard for data inputin claim 1 wherein said keyboard is a physical keyboard.
 4. A computerreadable medium encoded with computer readable instructions for akeyboard comprising instructions for: a) defining at least one major andone minor region in a spatial medium; b) providing a set of core symbolswherein each core symbol has a descriptive or expanded symbol, and anabbreviated or reduced symbol to represent it; c) marking said majorregion with the descriptive or expanded symbol of an assigned coresymbol belonging to said set of core symbols; d) marking said minorregions with the abbreviated or reduced symbol of an assigned coresymbol belonging to said set of core symbols; e) making each of saidmajor and minor regions represent an attribute corresponding to saidassigned core symbol; and g) detecting an interchange signal, whereinsaid set of instructions interchange said assigned core symbols of saidmajor and minor regions on detecting said interchange signal.
 5. Acomputer readable medium encoded with computer readable instructions fora keyboard in claim 4 wherein said major regions is larger than saidminor region.
 6. A computer readable medium encoded with computerreadable instructions for a keyboard in claim 4 wherein said computerreadable medium is a carrier.
 7. A computer readable medium encoded withcomputer readable instructions for a keyboard in claim 4 wherein saidcomputer readable medium is volatile.
 8. A computer readable mediumencoded with computer readable instructions for a keyboard in claim 4wherein said computer readable medium is nonvolatile.
 9. A computerreadable medium encoded with computer readable instructions for anasymmetric keyboard in claim 4 wherein said spatial medium allowstactile input.
 10. A computer readable medium encoded with computerreadable instructions for an asymmetric keyboard in claim 4 wherein saidspatial medium provides visual feedback.
 11. A computer readable mediumencoded with computer readable instructions for an asymmetric keyboardin claim 4 wherein said spatial medium provides tactile feedback.
 12. Acomputer readable medium encoded with computer readable instructions forchanging the state of a set of regions configured for: a) defining saidset of regions in a spatial medium by a set of spatial boundaries; b)tracking the state of an object in said spatial medium; c) generating atraversal signal when said object traverses a designated boundary whichis a member of said set of spatial boundaries; and d) defining andmaintaining a first and a second states of said set of regions, whereinsaid instructions change said state of said set of regions from saidfirst to second state when said traversal signal is detected.
 13. Acomputer readable medium encoded with computer readable instructions forchanging the state of a set of regions in claim 12 wherein: a) saidfirst state is a first definition of said set of spatial boundaries; andb) said second state is a second definition of said set of spatialboundaries.
 14. A computer readable medium encoded with computerreadable instructions for changing the state of a set of regions inclaim 12 further comprising an interpreter for translating said state ofsaid object in said spatial medium into a signal to control a pointerwherein: a) said first state is the state where said interpreter isactive; and b) said second state is the state where said interpreter isinactive.
 15. A computer readable medium encoded with computer readableinstructions for changing the state of a set of regions in claim 12wherein said computer readable medium is a carrier.
 16. A computerreadable medium encoded with computer readable instructions for changingthe state of a set of regions in claim 12 wherein said computer readablemedium is volatile.
 17. A computer readable medium encoded with computerreadable instructions for changing the state of a set of regions inclaim 12 wherein said computer readable medium is nonvolatile.
 18. Abi-axial hinge mechanism comprising: a) a first hinge mechanism allowinga set of attached branches to rotate around a first axis; and b) asecond hinge mechanism on each of said set of attached branches allowingan attached leaf component to rotate around a second axis which isperpendicular to said first axis, thereby allowing each of said leafcomponents to rotate around said first and second axes.
 19. A bi-axialhinge mechanism in claim 18 wherein said set of attached branchesconsists of two members, a first and a second attached branches.
 20. Abi-axial hinge mechanism in claim 19 wherein: a) said attached leafcomponent of said first attached branch is a display device; and b) saidattached leaf component of said second attached branch is an inputdevice.